Barbara Bedell: Making reading, writing fun for kids

At a recent book club sponsored by Mount Saint Mary College at the Newburgh Armory Unity Center at 321 S. William St. in Newburgh, Dr. Janine Bixler, a professor at the college, along with 22 students volunteered to make reading and writing poetry fun for local youngsters.

At a recent book club sponsored by Mount Saint Mary College at the Newburgh Armory Unity Center at 321 S. William St. in Newburgh, Dr. Janine Bixler, a professor at the college, along with 22 students volunteered to make reading and writing poetry fun for local youngsters.

The book club is part of CELL, the college's Collaborative for Equity in Literacy Learning that was created and is directed by Bixler.

"We've had some great discussions with books," said Bixler, who recently received an Educational Leadership Award from the Mid-Hudson School Study Council. "The goal of CELL is to create lifelong readers, instead of those who only read because they have to for school," she said.

Among the college students sharing their talents that day, especially in the field of music and art, were candidates for a master's degree, including Philip Stewart of Wurtsboro. After sharing with the younger students how music resembles poetry, and using the blues as an example, Stewart played his acoustic guitar and invited the students to write poems drawing a picture of a time when they felt blue. He later asked the youngsters to read their poems to his musical accompaniment. It was great fun as they clapped and sang along to familiar tunes.

For information about the book club as well as other programs at the center, call 245-4035.

The annual free veterans picnic hosted by the Orange County Veterans Coalition, led by Tony Zippo, will be from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday at the campgrounds at the Orange County Park off Route 416 in Campbell Hall. During the event there will be a ShopRite Job Fair, a gesture welcoming home veterans. Annually, ShopRite contributes thousands of dollars in cash and food to the Veterans Food Pantry. ShopRite also provides a packing location adjacent to the Montgomery ShopRite where veterans prepare weekly deliveries to veterans and their families.

For information, call Zippo at 291-2464.

The annual Orange County Sheriff's Awards will be given at 6 p.m. today at the 911 Auditorium in the building next to the Orange County Jail in the Town of Goshen.

Donations will be accepted for the Purple Heart Hall of Honor Inc. and the Museum of Jewish Heritage — A Living Memorial to the Holocaust during the EstateofMind Sale at 11 a.m. Saturday. Tables will be staffed by veterans. The donation tables and the sale will be under a tent, rain or shine, at 195 Derby Road in Middletown. Featured will be the collections of Navy veteran and Purple Heart recipient Howard J. "Bud" Schroder (1921-2005), who was a retired NYPD officer, Holocaust survivor Michael Klotz (1924-2012), an Orange County deputy sheriff for more than 15 years, and items from an estate in Rye. Items can be previewed from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Friday and from 8-10 a.m. Saturday. For information, visit estateofmind.biz or call 386-4403.

Retired U.S. Army Command Sgt. Maj. Brian Van Wagner will lead his 46 ROTC cadets and champerones to Washington, D.C., May 30-June 2. The trip has been financed through fundraisers conducted by the cadets with help from their parents. Althought their trip was to include a White House tour, which has been canceled by the president because of budget restraints, the highlight will still be at 6 p.m. May 31 when three cadets, representing the entire group, lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington Cemetery.

Barbara Bedell's column appears daily. Reach her at 346-3125 or by email: bbedell@th-record.com.